After the hurricane.

* OBJECTIVE

Students should understand

* what happened when Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast, and why.

* TEACHING STRATEGIES

See "Helping Children in Middle Schools Cope" below.

* BACKGROUND

At wind speeds of 140 mph, Katrina was a Category 4 hurricane when it struck the Gulf Coast on August 29. The hurricane damaged or destroyed towns and cities all along the coast. Two breaks in the levees that protect New Orleans caused 80 percent of the city to be flooded.

The official death toll of Hurricane Katrina by mid-September was nearly 500. That was far fewer than the thousands feared. But because the storm displaced up to 1 million people, splitting up families, it was hard to account for everyone. As of September 11, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children was listing 1,600 children as reported missing by their parents or looking for their families.

* CRITICAL THINKING

READING COMPREHENSION: Why were so many people caught in Hurricane Katrina's path, even after they had been warned to move? (Public transportation was widely unavailable, and many people were too poor to own cars. Assistance from local and federal authorities was limited. Other answers are acceptable.)

FORMING A SUPPORTED OPINION: What do you think local, state, or federal officials should have done to prepare for Hurricane Katrina, and to limit suffering afterward? Support your opinion with facts from the article and/or news reports. (Answers will vary.)

* ACTIVITY

HELPING THOSE IN NEED: Have students come up with a project to aid victims of the hurricane. Most helpful: Raise and send cash. (Be sure that the donation goes to a reputable agency; see right for suggestions.) For a story on an aid project created by two Maryland kids, go to npr.org/templates/calendar, choose Morning Edition, September 7, and scroll down to "Project Backpack."

STANDARDS

SOCIAL STUDIES, GRADES 5-8

* People, places, and environments: How a severe storm affects people in its path.

* Civic ideals and practices: How people can help themselves and each other in times of crisis.

RESOURCES

PRINT

* Lauber, Patricia, Hurricanes: Earth's Biggest Storms (Scholastic, 1996). Grades 5 & up.

WEB SITES

* FEMA's citizen preparedness guide fema.gov/areyouready/ why_prepare.shtm

* scholastic.com/hurricane

* Ways to help blackamericaweb.com/relief careusa.org disasterhelp.gov habitat.org houstonfoodbank.org redcross.org salvationarmy.org

I'm so thankful that we decided to evacuate," says 12-year-old Paul Grego Jr. "If we hadn't, I don't know if we would be here now. We would have been swimming around my house, trying to survive."

Until late August, Paul lived in Slidell, Louisiana (see map). On August 27, two days before Hurricane Katrina made landfall in the New Orleans area, Paul and his family drove out of town. An estimated 1 million people in Alabama, Louisiana, and Mississippi were forced from their homes--many permanently.

Paul considers himself lucky. His home was flooded, he says, "but at least it's still standing."

Paul and his parents and three younger sisters went to Baton Rouge, where Paul's paternal grandmother and aunt live.

Many members of his mother's family lost their homes in Slidell and in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi. "Their houses were swept out to sea," Paul told JS. "At least everybody's alive."

A Desperate Wait

A Category 4 storm (the highest is 5), Hurricane Katrina ravaged hundreds of miles along the Gulf of Mexico. In Biloxi, Mississippi, fierce winds downed power lines and flattened scores of homes. In Empire, Louisiana, ships were tossed onto the highway like toys.

Yet another trauma came when floodwalls and levees (barriers built to hold back high water) protecting New Orleans gave way. Canals overflowed, flooding an estimated 80 percent of the city.

Emergency personnel were scarce. Many residents who had stayed behind were trapped on rooftops, desperate for help. Thousands of people stood at highway underpasses, waiting hours of days for buses to take them to safety. In shelters, hospitals, and nursing homes, people were stuck in sweltering heat without food, water, or medicine.

Edward Denegre, 12, was able to get out of the city with his parents and younger sister. But he had to leave his gecko, Betsy, behind.

"We thought we'd only be gone for three days," Edward said from his family's temporary home in Dallas, Texas. His aging grandparents, he told JS, spent the first night of the storm on the concrete floor of a shelter. The roof had been blown off the house in Mississippi where they had sought refuge.

In New Orleans, tens of thousands of people took shelter at the Superdome or Convention Center. They had no food or water, and electrical power had gone out. They waited four days in filthy conditions to be rescued, as water flooded the surrounding streets. "We are out here like pure animals," one evacuee told a reporter. "We don't have help."

Across New Orleans there was chaos. Dozens of fires were started by gasoline leaking from flooded cars and burst oil pipes. Human bodies and garbage were swept up in the floodwaters, as desperate survivors broke into stores in search of food, water, and other supplies.

"When, Not If"

For years, New Orleanians had been warned about "the Big One": a fierce hurricane that could wipe out the city. Situated between Lake Pontchartrain (PON-chuhr-trayn) and the Mississippi River, most of New Orleans lies below sea level.

People knew that its levees were built to withstand only a Category 3 storm. Over the years, the bowl-shaped city had sunk, and surrounding marshes had eroded considerably. The marshes had acted as a natural barrier against high seas and winds.

In 2002, The Times-Picayune, a major newspaper in New Orleans, reported that a catastrophic storm was "a matter of when, not if."

Why, then, weren't more people rescued? On the eve of the storm, C. Ray Nagin, the Mayor of New Orleans, warned that his city was "facing a storm that most of us have long feared ... a once-in-a-lifetime event." He ordered the city's 485,000 residents to leave.

Thousands got out, but thousands of others were stuck. Public transportation was scarce, and many people were too poor to own cars.

"A National Disgrace"

The 2000 U.S. Census listed New Orleans as one of the poorest cities in the nation. Twenty-seven percent of its residents are impoverished. African-Americans, who make up almost 70 percent of the population, are among the poorest.

As TV news featured image after image of poor black residents stranded amid rising floodwaters, many people were reminded of the serious problem of poverty in America.

"These graphic images show our society is so uneven, it is so unfair, it is so unjust," said Robert D. Bullard, a sociology professor at Clark Atlanta University in Georgia. "If New Orleans had [mostly white citizens], I think the response would have been entirely different."

Many people agreed with Bullard. Others said that recent changes to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) had harmed its ability to act effectively. FEMA is a U.S. government agency charged with helping communities prepare for and recover from natural and human-made disasters.

"This is a national disgrace," said Terry Ebbert, director of Homeland Security for New Orleans, as the scene unfolded. "[FEMA] has been here three days, yet there is no command and control. We can send massive amounts of aid to tsunami victims, but we can't bail out New Orleans."

After the storm, FEMA director Michael D. Brown resigned under pressure. But blame for the failures was widespread. State and local officials--and President George W. Bush--were also faulted.

What Next?

Members of the U.S. Congress estimate that it will cost between $150 billion and $200 billion to repair damage from the hurricane and aid its survivors. Beyond the government's financial assistance, ordinary citizens across the U.S. are helping to provide food, clothing, and shelter to displaced families.

Survivors, meanwhile, are doing their best to adapt to new surroundings--and schools. Many kids, like Paul Grego Jr., yearn for home--or what remains of it. "I want to stay in what is left of New Orleans," Paul says. "I think it will be rebuilt, but I don't know if it will be as good as it was before. We need lots of help."

Eyewitness

Paul Grego Jr., 12, is from Slidell, Louisiana. His family's home there was flooded after levees gave way in nearby New Orleans. Here is Paul's account, as told to JS.

There were 18 years of my family's heritage in that house. It's gone now. All of my sisters' stuff is gone. My backyard doesn't exist anymore. A huge tree flew straight through and just landed there.

All of Slidell is destroyed. I can't go to the new school I was supposed to start. The bridge that would take me there is [washed] out. I don't even know if the school still exists. I'm going to have to register here [in Baton Rouge, Louisiana]. I have to make all new friends.

We're lucky we have family [on my father's side] to stay with. The storm didn't destroy their houses. My mom's family lived in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, and Slidell. The entire family [there] is homeless. They're living in hotels and eating take-out all the time.

It makes me mad.

RELATED ARTICLE: Old world charm.

In 1718, French engineers cleared a stretch of land along the Gulf of Mexico to build a seaport. The French named the city New Orleans in honor of the Duke of Orleans. It was a center for traders in cotton, sugar, and grain from up and down the Mississippi River. Ships carried these products to Europe.

In 1803, President Thomas Jefferson purchased the Louisiana Territory from France, greatly expanding the size of the U.S. In the bargain, the country got a major port city of 8,000 people. About half were white, about 1,300 were free blacks, and most of the rest were slaves.

Over the years, New Orleans drew many immigrants. In the late 19th century, the lively mix of people gave birth to what may be the only art form that originated in the U.S.--jazz music.

The city has long been known for its festive atmosphere, attracting 7 million tourists each year. Visitors have been drawn to Jazz Fest and the annual Mardi Gras celebrations--and enchanted by stately buildings and Old World charm.

"The Big Easy," as musicians called the city where it was easy to find work, will never be the same. But admirers hope to see it rebuilt better than ever.

RELATED ARTICLE: Hurricane Katrina Helping Children in Middle Schools Cope

by Adele M. Brodkin, Ph.D. Scholastic's Senior Child-Development Consultant

1. Before introducing the topic of Hurricane Katrina in your classroom:

Have students research hurricanes. See our Special Report at scholastic.com/hurricane, which explains how hurricanes form and are tracked. Children in these grades will be reassured by their intellectual command of the topic.

Have students research safety measures. What measures are taken before a hurricane? How are rescue efforts put together afterward? Hold a classroom discussion on this topic, and encourage students to prepare their own plans in case of an emergency. See FEMA's Web site above.

2. When discussing or teaching about Hurricane Katrina: Proceed with caution. This is early in the school year, so you may not yet be familiar with your students and their families. Therefore, present this material more matter-of-factly than you would if the storm had occurred later. Laying out the facts of the event briefly, as a news report, may be all that is needed. If there is no reason to hold back (such as a personal connection to the tragedy), students can do more-complex research: prepare reports on hurricanes in general, the history of hurricanes in the U.S., what is currently happening in the storm-stricken areas, or what measures are being taken to aid storm victims.

Find ways to help. Young people are comforted by being able to help others in need, particularly other children. Your class or school may decide to contribute to an aid agency (see Resources above).

IMPORTANT: Be sure that the organization you are raising money for is legitimate. Check with your school administration, and/or Scholastic Online's how-to-help tips at scholastic.com/hurricane.

Your Turn

THINK ABOUT IT

Hundreds of thousands of students who were displaced by the storm are now attending new schools. Name some ways in which other students can help these kids feel welcome.

QUICK QUIZ

* Use a word or phrase from this list to correctly complete each sentence.

African-American, Category 4 hurricane, Category 5 hurricane, Erie, the FDIC, FEMA, French, Hispanic-American, Mississippi, nation, Pontchartrain, the Red Cross, Richter scale 8 storm, Slidell, white, world

1. When Katrina made landfall on August 29, its winds were moving at 140 miles per hour, making it a--.

2. The majority of New Orleanians are--.

3. The city of New Orleans sits on low land between the Mississippi River and Lake--.

4. The federal agency charged with helping communities prepare for and recover from disasters is called--.

5. New Orleans ranks as one of the poorest cities in the--.

Answers:

1. Category 4 hurricane

2. African-American

3. Pontchartrain

4. FEMA

5. nation